Food With Friends by Leela Cyd. Published by Clarkson Potter

Cyd is well known for her easy to make, delicious recipes and in this book she takes that talent and shows the rest of us how to have fun preparing food for easy, spontaneous get-togethers. Recipes for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks and more are clear and easy to follow. Gorgeous photography highlights the book and shows novice cooks what the dish will look like ( a life saver for a newbie). A great book that I plan to give as my go to wedding shower gift

Advertisements

The Real Liddy James by Anne-Marie Casey. Published by Putnam

At 44, Liddy James is living the dream. She may be divorced, but she and her ex, Peter work together to parent their two children, along with his new partner Rose. In addition, Liddy is an author and   a successful divorce attorney. Things are going great….until they aren’t. Rose becomes pregnant, Liddy’s nanny quits and life as Liddy knows it is over. She takes the opportunity to take her kids on a trip to Ireland to trace her family’s history and in the process finds herself. A snarky, funny and moving look at modern family life

Widowmaker by Paul Doiron. Published by St. Martins

Mike Bowditch finds a woman outside his home one night, Amber Langstrom wants Mike’s help locating her son, who has disappeared from the work camp where he was incarcerated after being convicted of sex abuse. She says he was wrongfully convicted and that Mike has to help her, because her son is actually Mike’s half brother. Mike doesn’t want to revisit the past and remember anything about his violent father, but he reluctantly agrees and soon finds himself in a remote prison camp run by the military; a violent place where sexual predators live, and die, by their own violent code. Doiron captures the real Maine (not the prison camp), the characters, setting and quirks are pure Maine

Senior Dogs Across America by Nancy LeVine. Published by Schiffer.

I knew I had to read this book; I have adopted senior dogs my whole life and the only puppy I ever had is now 13. LeVine traveled the country meeting senior dogs and their owners, taking photos and listening to their stories. The result is a heart warming volume filled with happy dogs and their proud owners, dogs in trucks, on tractors, on couches and anywhere they want to be. A beautiful book with an inspiring message.

Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan. Published by HQN

After witnessing first hand how true love can turn ugly (her parents marriage), Frankie Cole has decided she wants no part of it. She keeps her distance from men, except for her best friend, Matt. They’re just buddies, so why is she starting to think about him in a different light? Matt has been in love with Frankie forever, he’s just waiting and hoping that someday she’ll feel the same way. A fun, sweet story about learning to trust

My Sister’s Secret by Tracey Buchanan. Published by Bookouture

Once upon a time in the 1970’s there were three very happy, loving sisters named, Faith, Hope and Charity. Fast forward a few decades and Willow, the daughter of Charity is all gown up and a commercial diver. Today she’s diving on the site of a modern day shipwreck, the ship that her mother and father were aboard when it sank when Willow was just a child. Taken in and raised by her prickly aunt Hope, Willow has always had questions about her mother that Hope refused to answer. Now, during the dive, the compact Willow had given her mother before the fateful voyage has been found. Inside it are the initials C and N. But Willow’s father’s name did not start with an N. Hope claims to have never seen the necklace before, but Willow doesn’t believe her and sets out to uncover the truth about her mother and her past. I really enjoyed this, the dive on the wreck site gave me goosebumps and there were more than a few bombshells in the storyline. A perfect summer read

Time After Time by Hannah McKinnon. Published by HarperCollins UK

Hayley Cooper has a loving husband, wonderful children and a job as a high powered attorney, but she’s far from happy. Her work life is crap, too many hours and nasty bosses. Her husband is working on building a new career and because he’s home, should be helping out with the kids a lot more than he is. Hayley is exhausted, and after an argument with her husband, she storms out of the house to spend the night with a friend. Why does her life have to be so complicated? Sometime she longs for the old days, the times when life was easy. Imagine her surprise when she wake up the next day next to her first boyfriend, a man she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Has she strayed, broken her marriage vows? Nope, this is Hayley’s chance to see what life could have been like if she’s stayed with her first love, back during the time when things were “easy”. You know what they say, the grass is always greener….be careful what you wish for….Hayley is about to discover those old sayings are all too true. There isn’t a woman alive who won;t relate to this book. How many times have we wondered how differently things might have turned out, if only…Funny, provocative and moving